Lonely Planet India - Lonely Planet

I was pretty excited about my trip. Three months India and a month in Nepal was my dream vacation I had saved up for. I had researched and read many books, got my shots, my malaria pills, and, ahem, packed the hygiene products and water-cleaning pills. I felt well prepared on my plane to Bombay. No, I didn’t have a route mapped out. I had plenty of time and would explore whatever I felt like exploring. By the time I had arrived in Mysore, I had heard so many mentions of “The Bible” that when I found it in a used bookstore (there are plenty of those in India, kept alive by all the travellers) I ... more

Now, I'm an Indian. I was born and brought up in this wonderful country. For the last 5 years, we've been taking 3-4 vacations each year and for each of them, i'm depending on this wonderful book, which was published in London!!! That talks volumes about this volume i guess!! The authors have done a fantastic job by scanning the width and depth of the country and not only have they travelled, but they have actually found out more info about the country than even a localite!! Lonely Planet has so wonderfully listed all the do's and dont's in the country and has listed every single place to ... more

This book was a great disappointment. Perhaps partly because there was so much hype about "The Book" for India, but mostly because I generally need travel guides to tell me what areas are safe and cheap to stay in the Lonely Planet India failed on this point in particular. Many sections appeared to be written by someone who had never been to those parts of India, for example the section on Pune comes to mind when I mention this. "Where to stay", with regard to budget and mid-range accommodation, was often in unsafe and expensive areas of the city when much cheaper and better hotels were ... more